maskormenacelogs | I can move mountains, I can work a miracle [OPEN]

[Putting on a fake pout-- he's so quick!-- Maya decides to change her strategy to something that always works with Pearl.

She starts poking at Kaneda's sides, trying to tickle him.]

C'mon! Let me through, then!

[Now that's not playing fair! His muscles tense once those fingers hit his abdomen, lurching his body forward as he still tries to keep his arms at least barring her entrance.]

Oi!! Hey hey!!

It's nothi--ING!!

[Laughter escapes him as he tries to grab her.]

[Perfect. It's working! Maya can taste victory.]

You're hiiiding! I can tell! Let me in!

[she giggles with him, grinning up at him and fighting to keep the upper hand, tickly fingers wiggling against his sides.]

[His hands try and reach for hers, gripping the wrists as they aim for his sides. The damage is already done, though--he's leaning forward more and instinctively backing up. And without his arms barring her entrance, it's easy to just move him in and to the side.

Hell, he's already backing up.]

You weren't suppose--d!! to come back yet!

[She steps forward, coaxing him backward step by step-- and although her focus is on getting in the room, she can't help but indulge in tickling him a bit, okay. It's nice, when he's smiling, when he's laughing, and he means it.]

What was that~? Why not?

[Man, if only this method of interrogation worked on investigations!]

What am I early for, huh~?

[Desperate hands try to fed off her fingers, but they're too nimble and small for his to grab, only half-hearted shoves as he moves more and more towards the bed. She wasn't playing fair, and she knew it!]

It was--[A hitch in his voice as Maya touches a more sensitive spot]--a SURPRISE!

[SOME investigations, Maya. You certainly wouldn't want to try this on a one Sal Monella.]

[Ohhhh, she knew it, she knew it well. But as his voice hitches up, she can't help but giggle herself, and shoves him back gently (intending to let him fall back onto the bed) to give him a chance to breathe. She sets her hands on her hips, staring after him, and replies--]

A surprise, huh? You'll have to be sneakier than that with me.

[Kaneda bounces on the bed, feet kicking up and hands guarding his stomach in case she was going for round 2, using this moment to catch his breathe. An unfair tactic on an unsuspecting victim, if you asked him.

Don't let that smile and those closed eyes fool you, he's CLEARLY upset that you beat him!]

Next time....

[That's all he gets out before a chuckle escapes, one of those arms reaching up to cover over his eyes.

The udon's smell wafts through the room, and he knew it'd still be warm by the time Maya noticed.

Guess he was guilty as charged, huh?]

Edited 2016-01-27 10:08 (UTC)

[She can't help but watch him a bit longer, biting her lip a little as she crosses her arms behind her back-- but then she turns to the side, catching that scent again.

A-ha! The culprit is a bowl, which upon further (and eager) inspection, is a bowl full of warm, fresh udon. The smell hits her in the back of the throat and makes her stomach growl, and she stares at it with shiny eyes that widen like a child.]

You made this?!

It looks amazing!

[She looks moved, okay. Moved. Food is so important.]

[It's not until she speaks up again that his arm lifts, only a bit to let one curious eye peek under. Oh, she'd taken notice...there's a small tightness in his stomach as he waits.

And maybe holding his breath just a little.]

...

[But the verdict comes out, with not just good, but amazing, and he feels like he can breathe again, heart a little fluttery. He couldn't explain why exactly, but at that moment a lot seemed to rest on her opinion. Maybe it's cause she was a good cook, or maybe because the feeling of someone truly loving what he could cook made him feel good himself.

Who knows.]

Really?

[There's noodles in her mouth before he's even finished his question. His one-word question. Maya is very serious about food.

She's covering her mouth, at least, but she's still talking with food in her mouth...]

Mmhm!! I's really good!

[Maya. Just finish eating it first.....]

[If anything confirmed her words, it was the way she slurped up those noodles, as if she hadn't eaten in days. There's something about it that warms a part of him, letting his heart settle back in his chest where it belongs. Sitting up, a hand rests under his chin and elbow on his knee.

Trying to hide the smile brimming underneath those fingers.]

Haha! I can tell!

Ah...Went with tanuki--never tried tempura strips, but the guy on the Metube said it was pretty easy enough...

[And with that, he falls back onto the bed.]

Guess it was a good pick, huh?

Mm-- yeah!

[like a kid on Christmas, once she's sure none of it will spill, she hurries to sit down next to him. She steadies the warm bowl in her lap, slurping down more noodles, and--]

You're getting better! Guess Cass's really tapping in to that inner softie of yours.

[For all that display of flopping onto his back, he sure is quick to poke his head up again at her, lower lip jut out in that signature pout he'd become almost known for. Words don't even need to be said, she knows what he's going to say.

And here it comes in 3...2...1..]

I'm not-

--It's nice on you, y'know.

[She knows. Knows enough to cut him off before he can protest, to lock eyes with him and smile.]

A little softness, I mean.

[Well, if there was anything that could stop that sentence from playing out, it was that sentence. The rest of the words get caught in his throat, left speechless for a moment before settling back down.

It's...nice on him? Sure, he thought it looked nice on Tetsuo. Hell, that's why he protected him for so long over the years. Something soft like that had to be protected. But Kaneda never saw that in himself. Whatever gentleness he showed to Tetsuo was encased in a hard outer shell.

In the end, only those with that hard shell could survive back home.]

...

You think so?

[It's honest this time, without any protest.]

Soft people don't do what I've done.

[Maya Fey, the picture of grace, has noodles in her mouth while he's speaking and pauses mid-slurp when she realises the sincerity of his question. She slurps the noodles up, finally, and wipes her mouth on her wrist like the classiest of ladies before she responds.]

Hey-- Y'know, things change. People change.

It's not like you get sorted into some kind of category your whole life.

You've been a good guy as long as I've known you!

[He doesn't mind--if anything, the slurping was a compliment. It's hard not to hide a smile while she finishes up, putting a hand behind his head. It only disappears when she speaks, although not out of sadness, but out of...contemplation.]

Some people might not agree with you on that.

[Tex. If anyone made him feel like he'd never become than what he was, it was her. It ate at him sometimes. He wasn't even out for approval, but the way it was hammered in that he was an idiot when he knew he was smart, or the way she gave him a look like he didn't deserve the respect Maya gave him...it irritated him. Not that he'd ever say that out loud, some things are best kept under wraps.

He turns on his side, cheek pressed against his arm as his hand runs through his own hair.]

I'd still do that stuff, if I had to.

[It's honest. He's not trying to deny her words, but more like...trying to give an accurate definition. Warn her that maybe her definition might not be an entirely accurate one either.

Can she really still call him soft after all that?]

Edited 2016-02-01 07:47 (UTC)

Yeah, but you wouldn't now, wouldja?

[Maya leans down, putting the bowl on the floor as not to up-set it, and turns to him, then, shifting up onto the bed. She crosses her legs and leans with her hands on her knees as if in meditation-- or at least as though she's concentrating on this conversation.]

Would you hurt me? Right now, I mean, the person you are right now.

No!

[The answer comes out almost immediately, leaning up on his elbows with a face that almost screams shock. Like he's honestly disgusted at the very idea of hurting her. His hand reaches up and out to her, realizing quickly its a hypothetical situation...

And only then does he lower it.]

That's...that's not what I meant.

But you wouldn't! And I know that.

So the person you choose to be right now is already that much better than the person somebody else might think you are.

[He stares at her, astounded.]

And what if a part of who I am right now can still kill people?

[There it is. The part he didn't want to outright say to her.

Because for all she said about him being soft, he'd denied it. Because he wasn't. Not in his eyes, anyway.

Soft people don't kill.]

[Maya's not strong enough not to react-- not to suck in a sudden breath as quietly as she can, not to bristle up just a little. But it's just the immediate reaction, and she knows-- and she knows.

She knows that the worlds of those she has grown to love here are nothing like her own. She knows they are the worlds of soldiers and warriors and the neglected.

She knows that those are their realities, and that doesn't make them bad. No, not here, not where things just didn't follow the same rules. Would she ever be forced to make that choice? If she was, she wouldn't know what she'd answer quite yet-- what she'd choose. But she knows, the longer she's here in another world, the closer she'll come to being forced to answer that question.

Maya is not so naïve as she likes to make others think, and perhaps Kaneda will see a little bit of that in the way she leans closer, putting her hands down on the bed and preparing her next objection.

Maya Fey speaks with conviction when she, in all seriousness, quotes a passage from the Steel Samurai at him.]

Even the way of the Samurai calls for benevolence, that which requires a warrior's heart be warm.

Jesus--

[Okay, he wasn't expecting THAT kind of reaction out of her, and it practically scares the shit out of him as he jumps a few inches, scrambling against the headboard.]

Samurai? Warrior's Heart?

[...That hand is reaching up to feel your forehead now, Maya. Don't bite it off.]

H-hey!

[She swats at his hand, pouting at him.]

I'm serious! Come on-- you know Tex has probably killed like, a lot of people, right? But just because someone has to do something like that, that doesn't define everything they are, right?

Don't you know anything about bushido? I thought I told you to watch more samurai movies!

A true warrior has to have a benevolent heart!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject